BELOVED PROVO RIVER

Just got back from a road trip to some remote waters in Wyoming, the notorious Green river and Provo river also. It was a great trip. Although the summer heat are terrible in this time of the year, or, even detrimental to our fisheries, the long distance hiking did decrease the air temperatures significantly and also give us some solitudes. Me and my brother Bryan like to explore remote waters as well as secret spots in the familiar (popular) waters. In the first few days, we are fished our home river - the blue ribbon river- Provo.

I have to say... The Provo is a very CROWDED river in this time of the year... every holes, between holes are full of people... well... I like solitudes, but sometime it is interesting to observe what others are doing...we were just sitting on the bank and wait until they move on... maybe learn something new. However, most of time, they just occupied the hole, even never catch a single #$%. Ahhhhh...... I guess this maybe one of the facts that fish here are growing healthier (because “people prevent people to catch them, lol”)

The Provo is famous for it's high density browns (can not remember the stats), and the stupidity (or say forgiveness) of the fish. Two dams created two fabulous tail water fisheries, the mid Provo and the lower Provo. The upper freestone tributaries were coming out from the great Uinta mountains, fed by many of glacial relict lakes. The constant cold current and prolific insect hatch grow some pretty decent fish in these waters. When I said “cold water” in the Aug... it is very cold. I remember there was once I tried to wet wade in a midday, the air temp maybe reach 100F, Just wade in for 1 min, I thought I going to lost my feet... well... maybe I am a wimpy guy though : )... Put on the wader and wade deep is my strategy in these water... it is better strategy for nympher anyway : ).

Talk about the easy catch fish...
(Unfortunately), at the late summer season, I would say NO...not a single easy fish... they are all well educated... I believe the size of the pea brain were activated...They scrutinized every single drift...size and color... Not only my brother have a hard time to figure his dry, but also I (a called nympher) was scratching my head all the time... PMD and Caddis hatch in the evening brought up most of the fish.


Catch brown and white fish. -The equipment, the flies and the approach-
I used 5wt 10' fast action rod for nymphing. Bryan used 4wt 9' for his beloved dry fly fishing mainly. I am a nympher. Hight sticking, Czech nymphing and Indicator nymphing tactics are all equally beloved in my manuals. I frequently search for pocket waters with high sticking and slower water for the indicator fishing. It works out well and I feel not waste too much water and I really enjoy the beautiful scenery in between of the searching. On the other hand, Bryan is a big and great dry fly fisherman. His notorious “caddis dance” was so deadly... always out fish me during the evening hatch. (Nympher get bigger fish is not the rule in this trip! Although I was catching more fish in the mid day... he proved the essence of dry fly fishing and rewarded with the biggest cuttie and brown with Elk hair and hopper pattern).

I used two nymphs rig, (from bottom fly to fly line) two flies was about 12 inches apart, 8 inches above the top fly 2 BB or (AB) egg shots pinched on the tag end of two connected tippet (4x-5x) (if the shots get snagged I won't lost the whole rig). 5 feet above the top fly were my yarn indicator (or no indicator for high sticking). Overall leader were about 10 feet.

I like classic Pheasant tail and green rock worms nymphs. Usually I will put the smaller #20-18 PT on the end of the rig, bead head for the top fly. In this time of the year, the PMD are about size #18-16 in the Provo. I also experimentally use RS2 from a great fly tier in the CO. Ron. They produced nice fish as well. For dry, Bryan use Elk hair caddis and some PMD yellow little emergers and some PMX hopper pattern.

We fish the river close to each other just in case we need to help each other out, and of course enjoy the friendship a lot. The dryer – nympher system work extremely well. Usually Bryan go dry first... and I nymph the same hole second. Different niches for different tactics. If the fish doesn't run too wild, usually it will keep producing fish, I would say we pretty much pull fish after fish at the same nice hole. By fishing and chatting together, we also gain more energy to explore more water (well, the redbulls may also help a bit lol).

Here are some pictures, friends, enjoy!
Mark